Accordion in music
In March 1844, polka-mania took Paris: common people, servants, workers and, one assumes, anyone else who wasn't too stuffy were dancing the polka in the streets of the capital and soon in Bordeaux and other French cities as well.
"[2] Except for a brief moment in time during the 1830s and 1840s when the accordion was heard by French aristocracy during Salon music concerts, the instrument has always been associated with the common people.
The mid-19th-century accordion became a favorite of folk musicians for several reasons: "The new instrument's popularity [among the common masses] was a result of its unique qualities.
It was also the prototype of a 'one man band' with bass and chords on the left-hand side and buttons for the melody on the right, and you could still sing along and beat the rhythm with your feet.
[10] Another great popular American accordionist was Dick Contino, who toured with the Horace Heidt Orchestra and was billed as the "world's greatest accordion player."
[11] In addition, John Serry, Sr. achieved national recognition on tour with Shep Fields and His Rippling Rhythm jazz orchestra during the 1930s, concertized on the CBS radio and television networks in the 1940s and 1950s[12] and appeared in the Broadway Theatre during the 1950s and 1960s.
Central to the evolution of early Tejano music was the blend of traditional forms such as the Corrido and Mariachi, and Continental European styles, such as Polka, introduced by German and Czech settlers in the late 19th century.
The composer Tomohito Nishiura frequently uses the accordion in the Professor Layton series of games, for example in "Laboratory" or "Don Paolo's Theme".
The accordionist appears on-stage—along with a folk-trio consisting of a piccolo player and triangle player—three times in the third act (which is set in Switzerland), to accompany a short and simple song which is sung by a little Savoyard (Alpine shepherd).
In 1915, the American composer Charles Ives included a chorus of diatonic accordions (or concertinas[notes 1])—along with two pianos, celesta, harp, organ, zither and an optional theremin—in his Orchestral Set No.
[25] In 1922, Austrian composer Alban Berg included a short on-stage accordion part in his landmark opera Wozzeck, Op.
Akkordeon in the score appears only during the tavern garden (wirthausgarten) scene, along with an on-stage (Bühnenmusik) ensemble consisting of two fiddles (violins tuned up a tone), one clarinet in C, one guitar and one bombardon in F (or bass tuba), to lend a touch of authenticity to the deutsche Biergarten setting.
As the founder and Dean of the University of Denver's Lamont School of Music's Department of Accordion, Davine influenced generations of students both in the United States and the People's Republic of China where he taught Master Classes.
Composers found the free-bass accordion much more attractive and easier to write for as it liberated the instrument from a limited range of bass notes (only a major seventh, C to B) and the pre-set chord buttons.
In 1957, the pianist Vilfred Kjaer... organize[d] the world premiere of Jubilesse infameuse.Composer Ole Schmidt liked the instrument and in 1958 he composed a Symphonic Fantasy and Allegro, op.
"[35] Other Danish composers soon followed Schmidt:[notes 4] In Europe, free bass accordion performance has reached a very high level and the instrument is considered worthy of serious study in music conservatories.
[citation needed] Modern and avant-garde composers such as Sofia Gubaidulina, Edison Denisov, Luciano Berio, Per Nørgård, Arne Nordheim, Jindrich Feld, Franco Donatoni, Toshio Hosokawa, Mauricio Kagel, Patrick Nunn and Magnus Lindberg have written for the free bass accordion and the instrument is becoming more frequently integrated into new music chamber and improvisation groups.
1947) recently wrote a piece entitled Storie di Altre Storie, for accordionist Teodoro Anzellotti, requiring use of the free bass accordion in its instrumentation, and drawing off the keyboard sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti, the glass harmonica music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and the ballades of Guillaume de Machaut.
[36] A number of American instrumentalists did succeed in demonstrating the unique orchestral capabilities of the free bass accordion while performing at the nation's premier concert venues.
[37][38][39] His refined poetic artistry gained respect for the free bass accordion as a serious concert instrument among prominent classical musicians and conductors of the early 20th century.
[41][42][43][notes 5] Recently Guy Klucevsek has built a reputation on combining folk styles with classical forms and makes extensive use of the free bass.
Nick Ariondo, Los Angeles based accordionist/composer, has created a large repertoire for both free bass and standard stradella systems, performing throughout his career with vocalists, in solo recitals, chamber music settings and with orchestra.
In Canada several performers also contributed extensively to the acceptance of the Free Bass Accordion as a respected member of orchestral ensembles throughout North America.
Among the leading performers, educators and composers is Joseph Macerollo who has achieved widespread acclaim as an interpreter of both contemporary and classical compositions for the instrument.
[46][47] Ironically, the founding of The Hohner Symphony Accordion Orchestra in Trossingen, Germany in 1931 was somewhat problematic since it also coincided with the emergence of the Nazi party prior to World War II.
As the political winds shifted in Germany during the 1930s, musicians appearing in accordion orchestras suddenly encountered objections from members of the Third Reich's official institute of music, the Reichsmussikkammer.
Performances of traditional classical music on the accordion were now deemed to constituted an "affront" to the memory of prominent German composers from the past.
[48][49] The accordion orchestra was resurrected within the framework of an even larger ensemble within the United States in the post World War II era during the 1940s.
[50] In the United States, such symphonic accordion orchestras often performed under the baton of prominent soloists including Jacob C. Neupauer and Joseph Biviano.
[54][55] In 1960 he experimented even further by collaborating with leading accordionists such as Carmen Carrozza, Angelo Di Pippo, Eugene Ettore and John Serry in an early stereo recording by a leading accordion orchestra for Coral Records (#CRL-57323) which included musical selections by such classical composers as: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Carl Maria von Weber, Nicolo Paganini and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
